vitamins

The truth about nutritional supplements revealed by a UK leading Dietitian

March 11, 2019 by 121dietitian

One of the most commonly asked questions we hear at 121 Dietitian is “What supplements should I be taking?” With this in mind, Director and Principal Dietitian Gillian Killiner discusses the topic of supplements and who should be taking what.

It might surprise you to learn that the term ‘dietary supplement’ actually applies to a wide group, including; vitamins, herbs, enzymes, amino acids, minerals, protein drinks, sport aids, weight loss pills, anti aging tonics etc.

According to a report in Optimum Nutrition Magazine, the nutritional supplement market in the UK in 2016 was valued at £431 million and this is expected to double in the next 5 years.

People in the U.K. take dietary supplements for a variety of different reasons. Athletes and bodybuilders may take supplements to gain performance improvements and to bulk up. Others take supplements to get protein and vitamins into their diets as part of an overall focus on a healthier lifestyle.

Pregnant and lactating women may take dietary supplements to provide enough nutrients to support their growing babies. Children from ages six months to five years may be given supplements to make certain that they are getting enough vitamins while they are growing. The government recommends that children in this age group are given supplements of vitamins A, C and D.

People also take dietary supplements to help lose weight, while older adults take supplements to help to maintain their health as they age.

This sounds and is, for the main part, acceptable. When supplements are advised and taken correctly, they can enhance an individual’s health and thus improve life outcomes and I am all for this when following an expert’s advice. However, this needs to be after a full health assessment.

What is most worrying is that I find frequently in my clinical practice individuals taking supplements for several years or maybe longer and they really have no idea the quality of the supplement they are taking (often cheap shop brand) the quantity of the ingredient dose they are taking and the risks associated with this or on the reverse that they might not be absorbing the ingredients at all.

Sadly, I have had several patients who have significant liver damage as a direct result of high dose supplementation taken for an extended period of time.

Truth be told, I am a supplement nerd and I am meticulous in sourcing the correct therapeutic supplements for each individual based on their; health, lifestyle, age, sex, metabolic status and most importantly, blood test results.

The supplements that I select are chosen because they have:

No nasty chemicals which can often trigger additional issues with gut/skin health.
Selected for optimal dosage and from natural sources so the body can absorb them easily.
Purest for no toxicity.
Dose administered to assist their optimal absorption.
If using several supplements they are introduced over time to monitor for any reactions.

During the time a patient is with me, bloods and symptoms are monitored to ensure health is assisted and the supplements taken for the correct time frame at the correct dose.

So where does that leave you?

For those of you that do supplement:

Do remember you can’t expect supplements to take care of a bad diet or lifestyle – research has proven this to be more harmful.
If you take supplements please do consider there are positives and negatives to these and be aware that they could be unnecessary, toxic or just making expensive urine!
Don’t mix food supplements and medicines.
Some food supplements can interact with medicines. So if you are taking any medication, seek advice from either a GP or dietitian.

Your body is like a finely tuned engine of a car – all the parts have to work in harmony to ensure you are in top gear. Too much or too little of anything and your won’t be firing on all cylinders!

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If you wish to discuss this further, please do not hesitate to contact us:

Email: info@121dietitian.com
Tel: 07717392306
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The facts on fermented foods – what can they do for you…

January 14, 2019 by 121dietitian

With a rise in popularity for fermented foods in recent years comes a look at their impact on health. Here, Gillian gets clear on what fermented foods are and if they actually have a positive effect on health.

What are they?

Fermented foods/drinks have become very popular over recent years even though they have been consumed worldwide for over 13,000 years! Fermentation is the bacterial (or yeast) conversion of sugar and starch to acids and other by-products, including ethanol. The acidity not only prevents growth of bacteria in food that can spoil food and drink but also creates foods with an interesting sour, tangy flavour.

Fermented local products include yogurt, beer and bread. Across the world fermented products include: Sauerkraut (‘sour cabbage’) from Germany, kimchi from Korea, kombucha from China and kefir from the Caucasian mountains.

Any benefits?

You can’t escape the supposed benefits of fermented foods as they have been touted all over the media. The main area of focus: probiotic content and gut health. A probiotic is defined as live microorganisms that can establish within the gut and provide a benefit to the host. With this interest has come an increased recognition for the importance of looking after our gut microbiota, both for gut and non-gut health outcomes.

Finally emerging evidence from studies for fermented foods and health in humans has found to be positive re gut bacteria.

Research has uncovered so many variables that could be at play so the outcomes are not always clear-cut. Some other interesting areas of research ongoing include: the possibility that fermentation can increase the iron bioavailability from cereals by reducing phytic acid content, which can stop your body absorbing iron. Certain bacteria can also synthesise nutritive compounds, including particular B vitamins all very interesting.

Overall

Fermented foods can be included as part of a balanced, healthy diet, although it should be recognised that some shop bought have a high salt content such as sauerkraut and kimchi. Fermentation is popular at home and if you do wish to commence this ensure you follow safe food hygiene practices and that you use the correct ingredients, conditions and storage for that particular ferment. Although the evidence for specific health benefits is still emerging, the taste, saving on food waste are all positive!

We have loved making water kefir (we used these) the last few years and delighted that it tastes amazing while boosting gut health.

Just remember if buying fermented foods in the supermarket that are processed by heat, baked or filtrated (e.g. pasteurised sauerkraut, sourdough) these are inactivate as this processing removes the microbes and will not contain live cultures.

Call 07717392306 or email:info@121dietitian.com for help integrating these into your diet today.

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Updated Jan 2021

Essential Nutrition for Recovery after Surgery (Part 2)

May 4, 2018 by 121dietitian

In the follow up to part one of our Nutrition & Surgery focus (which you can read here), Director and Principal Dietitian Gillian Killiner, continues to discuss the key role that vitamins and minerals play in helping your body recover after surgery.

Vitamin A

Vitamin A is required for recovery from surgery. It is commonly known as the anti-infective vitamin. It is central to normal functioning of your immune system. Vitamin A is also needed to maintain the integrity and function of your skin and mucosal cells.

When you enter a hospital or clinic for surgery, many things will stress you. You will also be exposed to bacteria and viruses that your system is not used to. Infection will quickly use up your vitamin A stores. In this way, infection starts a vicious cycle, because not enough vitamin A is related to increased severity and likelihood of death from infectious disease. It is important to go into surgery with a good supply of vitamin A in your tissues. You will need to continue taking enough vitamin A to keep those levels high.

Vitamin A rich foods include: beef liver, carrots, sweet potato, kale, romaine lettuce, apricots, broccoli, butter, eggs, cantaloupe melon and red pepper.

Vitamin E

The main function of vitamin E in humans is as an antioxidant. Vitamin E has been shown to improve immune system functions that decline as people age. It helps increase blood flow. It does this by preventing blood clots and relaxing blood vessel walls.

Vitamin E rich foods include: sunflower seeds, almonds, hazelnuts, mango, avocado, butternut squash, broccoli, spinach, kiwi and tomatoes.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin needed for normal calcium metabolism. You make vitamin D in your skin when you are in the sun without clothing or sunscreen. Vitamin D regulates your immune system function during times of stress. Adequate vitamin D levels are important for decreasing the risk of high blood pressure.

If you do not have enough vitamin D you will not absorb enough calcium. Then your body will steal calcium from your bones. This will increase your risk of osteoporosis and other health problems. Vitamin D deficiency causes muscle weakness and pain. Obesity increases the risk of vitamin D deficiency. Once vitamin D is made in the skin or ingested, it is deposited in body fat stores. Storage makes it less available especially to people with large amounts of body fat.

Vitamin D rich foods include: halibut, mackerel, salmon, rainbow trout, cod liver oil, sardines, tuna and eggs.

Iron

Iron is required for a number of vital functions, including growth, reproduction, healing, and immune function. You need the right amount of iron for hundreds of proteins and enzymes.

Iron rich foods include: spirulina, liver, beef, lentils, dark chocolate, spinach, sardines, black beans, pistachios and raisins.

Copper

You must have enough copper in your system for normal iron metabolism and red blood cell formation. Anemia is a sign of copper deficiency. Copper is required for you to be able to move iron to your bone marrow for red blood cell formation. Vitamin A deficiency will make iron deficiency anemia worse. Taking a combination of vitamin A and iron will protect you from anemia better than either iron or vitamin A alone.

Copper rich foods include: beef liver, shitake mushrooms, cashews, chickpeas, kale, cocoa powder, sesame seeds, quinoa, almonds, lentils and chia seeds.

Calcium

Calcium is the most common mineral in the human body. About 99 percent of the calcium in your body is found in your bones and teeth. The other one percent is found in your blood and soft tissue. The functions of calcium are so vital to survival that the body will steal calcium from your bones. It does this to keep blood calcium levels normal when your calcium intake is too low.

Calcium plays many important roles. It is vital in controlling the constriction (closing) and relaxation (opening) of your blood vessels. It also aids proper nerve impulses, muscle contraction, and release of your hormones.

Calcium is a key factor for good recovery from any surgery involving your bones.

Only about 30 percent of the calcium in your food is actually absorbed in your digestive tract. You lose a certain amount of calcium in your urine every day. This depends on how much caffeine you drink. Too much or not enough protein in your diet will affect your calcium absorption and the strength of your bones.

Calcium rich foods include: kale, sardines, yoghurt, broccoli, watercress, cheese, bok choy and almonds.

Magnesium

Magnesium plays important roles in the structure and the function of the human body. Over 60 percent of all the magnesium in your body is found in your bones. About 27 percent is found in muscle, while six to seven percent is found in other cells. Magnesium is required by many other nutrients, like vitamin D and calcium, to function properly.

Proper wound healing after surgery requires the right amounts of calcium and magnesium in the fluid around the cells involved in the injury. If you are having surgery that involves your bones, magnesium is very important for the best outcome.

Magnesium rich foods include: spinach, dark chocolate, pumpkin seeds, almonds, black beans, avocado, yoghurt and banana.

Zinc

Zinc is an essential trace element for all forms of life. Zinc deficiency has recently been recognized by a number of experts as an important public health issue. A diet very high in grains like wheat can cause zinc deficiency.

You must have enough zinc to keep your immune system healthy. If you don’t have enough zinc, you are more likely to become ill from a number of different infectious bacteria or viruses.

Zinc rich foods include: lamb, pumpkin seeds, beef, chickpeas, cocoa powder, cashews, yoghurt, mushrooms, spinach and chicken.

Selenium

Selenium is a trace element that is essential in small amounts to the work of many other nutrients. This includes vitamin C, vitamin E, copper, zinc, and iron. It aids wound healing by regulating cell growth.

Your thyroid gland needs selenium for normal function. Thyroid hormone tells your body how fast to function. If your cells work too slowly, your healing from wounds and your daily tissue repair will not go well.

People who are low in selenium may be more likely to become ill when stressed by difficult events like surgery or exposure to bacteria and viruses.

Selenium rich foods include: Brazil nuts, halibut, sardines, beef, turkey, beef liver, chicken and eggs.

Overall, good nutrition will help you make the best of your surgery. If you are unsure of how to structure your intake to optimise and prepare/recover regarding your operation, contact Gillian Killiner at 121 Dietitian. Gillian is an expert in nutrition for health, pre and post surgery. She or one of her colleagues will be happy to assess and advise you. You can avail of there services at our Belfast clinic or online worldwide.

Book Here Tel: 07717392306 Email: info@121dietitian.com

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Information checked & correct on 16th May 2018 and Jan 2021.

Eat right for mental health and overall wellbeing

January 29, 2015 by 121dietitian Leave a Comment

How and what we eat has an overarching effect on the mind and body.

We all know that, don’t we? But really have you been doing anything about it? If you are in the camp of the invincible guts of steel, or “never taken a day off in my life” type person then you are either in luck, on borrowed time or in a minority! More and more people we find are attending 121 Dietitian’s clinics with symptoms they just can’t get answers/pills or potions for, and its having a detrimental effect on their mind and body so I thought I would write a little about it and how we have been able to help.

For some people it may not have been an overnight change but crept up over a few years, or for others it may have been a bolt out of the blue. Everyone and their circumstances are different, however the symptoms are often similar, or cross over with other illnesses making diagnosis vague and frustrating. But ultimately the most detrimental outcome for each person sitting beside me is that the problem is ongoing and impacting on their quality of life. Work suffers, family life is stressed, holidays become an idea of hell than heaven….

One recent example: Jen, she attended our clinic Jan 2014, a woman in her 30’s, busy life, young family and working a full-time job, full of life, shopping wasn’t always a priority and food was from ready-made meals for her and her partner. She started out in March 2012 with some episodes of feeling tired, low in mood, then progressed to feeling very low all the time coupled with some aches and pains, loss of appetite, change in bowel habits, unable to sleep well, feeling real fatigue, colder than others, weight gain, brain fog, forgetfulness, hair thinning……. She felt alone, worried and isolated. She had been for some tests and told she had fibromyalgia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and needed to exercise more. She didn’t get the answers she needed so attended our clinic. She had a life before this and wanted it back.

We requested a series of blood tests for her re: her nutritional status, full thyroid function and antibodies, cholesterol profile, etc, we took her body composition and waist circumference. Jen also completed our questionnaire and 7 day food diary.

Tests showed that Jen was in poor nutritional health, she had multiple low levels (not out of range but very low levels sub-optimal for health) of essential nutrients in her blood. She had an elevated glucose and triglyceride level. Her macro and micro vitamins intake were minimal with a high sugar/salt, sat fat intake. These problems, you may be surprised to read, however were not addressed at this stage. This was not until we got her GUT working again, if the gut isn’t absorbing then those expensive vitamins and minerals pills and potions that you are encouraged to buy (and Jen had stack loads in her bathroom cabinet) would be a waste of time. Having a poor gut function like IBS impacts on more than the GUT and as mentioned above it has a negative effect on overall health, with prescribed antidepressants, antacids, laxatives…..being common.

To fix this we guided Jen through our excellent Low FODMAP elimination programme. 8 weeks later with full support she came back a changed lady her IBS symptoms had improved significantly. Next we were ready to address the diet for her mood, total health and for her life back.

As Jen was carrying extra weight she decided to enrol in our Counterweight Weight management programme, a 12 month fully supported evidence based programme. Returning for the last appointment she has now lost the weight she had been so desperate to shift, she had fixed her GUT, and is now eating a nutrient rich diet. This in turn has helped her low mood, her family life, energy levels and is now looking forward to a holiday abroad with her family, something she feared greatly when we first met her. Jen is one of many we see men, women and children are all reporting problems.

So why is this happening?

Many factors can play a part here but certainly modernisation is a big one. We are living faster lives with fast foods and less down time to relax. We have over recent centuries moved from a whole foods diet to one that is based on processed and refined foods. These processed foods are leading not only to greater ill health: obesity, heart disease and inflammatory diseases, they are also leading to greater emotional distress in the form of depression, anxiety and insomnia. Eating a diet filled with chips, fast food and fizzy drinks is leading to an epidemic of “mental illness.” We also eat too quickly, chewing food has declined and food is beige, soft and gulped down, not allowing our mouth enzymes a look in.

Good Nutrition is vital for your mind and body. This does not have to be difficult, so many people are confused with all the shouting and pushing of some extremes. Adhering to veganism, vegetarianism, Low carbs or paleo is not required. If the first changes you make are by concentrating on cutting out industrial based processed foods and eating more from scratch, cooking meals in the kitchen, focusing on a whole foods diet filled with wholesome prepared meals then you are doing well. Sitting and savouring food with family and friends is a part of life and its importance should not be overlooked for total happiness and health.

At 121 Dietitian we look at the full person. We spend a large amount of our time building a profile of the individual’s health by using blood results, checking symptoms, assessing the diet and body composition and most importantly discussing with the patient how they feel. Our programmes are detailed but we get the results to get people’s lives back.

If your GUT is down so are you.

Information checked & correct on 16th May 2018.

vitamins

One of the most commonly asked questions we hear at 121 Dietitian is “What supplements should I be taking?” With this in mind, Director and Principal Dietitian Gillian Killiner discusses the topic of supplements and who should be taking what.

The supplements that I select are chosen because they have:

For those of you that do supplement:

If you wish to discuss this further, please do not hesitate to contact us:

With a rise in popularity for fermented foods in recent years comes a look at their impact on health. Here, Gillian gets clear on what fermented foods are and if they actually have a positive effect on health.

What are they?

Any benefits?

Overall

In the follow up to part one of our Nutrition & Surgery focus (which you can read here), Director and Principal Dietitian Gillian Killiner, continues to discuss the key role that vitamins and minerals play in helping your body recover after surgery.

Vitamin A

Vitamin E

Vitamin D

Iron

Copper

Calcium

Magnesium

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